If Verlax Was One of Us
“It faces the docks, so it may be a bit noisy,” droned an innkeeper as he twisted a rusty lock with his key. He opened the door, exposing a pair of rectangular chambers overlooking a third story balcony. The iron-framed abode was sparsely furnished—with only a table, two chairs, and a large bed situated across a floor with a paper-thin rug. “But it's our only two-pony room in the economy section.”
“Erm... that's all well and good,” Theanim Mane said, fidgeting. Rainbow Dash hovered past him, gazing about the room. “But... I-I was hoping you might have a place with two separate beds.”
“Sorry.” The innkeeper shook his head. “Not today. The only available two bed rooms are a tier higher.”
“Uhhhm... well then...” Theanim chewed on his bottom lip. “Oh dear.”
“We'll take it.” Rainbow suddenly said, frozen and wide-eyed.
“Miss Dash, I appreciate the sentiment... b-but I'm not entirely comfortable with—”
“It's perfect.” Rainbow zipped towards the balcony, landing on a hammock that swung in the salty breeze. She squatted like a happy blue cat; even her ears perked up as her body swung to a stop. “We'll take it!”
Theanim blinked, then smiled at the inn keeper. “You heard the mare.”
The pony cleared his throat, holding a hoof out.
“Ah. But of course.” Theanim rummaged through his pack and hoofed over a few bits. “It'll only be for a night.”
“If you need any services, we're just a bell away,” the innkeeper said with a smile.
“Wow...” Theanim leaned his head aside. “The rooms in the economy section has a paging system?”
“Erm...” The innkeeper brushed his own bangs back, looking aside. “One per floor, actually.” He hoofed the key to Theanim. “Every tenant on the same level with you rings it. You... might want to wash your hooves afterwards.” And he trotted away.
With a loud squeak, Theanim shut the hotel room door. “Ahhhh... Rust.” He locked the door shut and turned around. “How I missed thee.”
“Hammock hammock hammock hammock...” Rainbow drooled, cuddling the netted material.
“I empathize with your desire for comfort and slumber, Miss Dash,” Theanim said, plopping his items onto the interior's bed. “But we cannot tarry here for long.”
“Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...” Rainbow's cheeks went red. She sat up, pouting. “Can't we afford at least an hour of nap time?”
“I wish I could say yes, but Rust is a city that never sleeps. Or sinks!” He chuckled. “Both of those go hoof in fetlock, you see.”
“How about we let it sink for three hours, and I nap for two of them and then salvage the city with my bare hooves in the third hour?”
“Honestly, Miss Dash!” Theanim furrowed his brow. “How come you weren't such a sleepyhead back at the Atoll?”
“Because I had the spearing of a giant sea serpent to contend with!” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Here, it's the adventure of 'looking for Echo.'”
“Look at it this way. After a thorough search, we'll have properly earned our rest.”
“Just where does your old friend hang out anyways?” Rainbow reluctantly hopped off the hammock, gazing over the balcony at the bustling inner port below. Seagulls and pegasi flitted overhead, gliding from building to building. “If you give me a basic idea, I could comb the place over and see what—or who—I can spot.”
Theanim fiddled with his belongings. “Do you have experience in surveying urban locations?”
“Pfftchyaa...” She nodded back at him. “I can't even count the numbers of hours I spent memorizing the rooftops to Val Roa's capital.”
“Well, from what you described to me, I doubt this city is any larger,” Theanim said. “But it is rather inricate, and there are several layers of it that don't see sunlight.”
“Lemme guess,” Rainbow muttered. “Echo's going to be hanging out in one of those dark places.”
“Quite likely. For one thing, he's... not terribly fond of sunlight.”
“And for another?”
“Let's... just say that he conducts better business in those areas.”
“Okay, Doc...” Rainbow turned around and reclined lazily against the balcony. “Level with me.” She raised an eyebrow. “Just how did you get entangled with someone like Echo in the first place?”
“Oh, please, Miss Dash.” Theanim rolled his blue eyes. “You make it sound vile and clandestine.”
“But am I off the mark...?” Rainbow smirked.
Theanim bit his lip. “Erm...”
“Anything you'd be ashamed to write home to mother?” Rainbow remarked. “And by 'mother,' I mean Queen Verlaxion?”
“Don't you start,” Theanim said, pointing a hoof. “And even if you do apply the virtues of Verlaxion to my friendship with Echo, then you'll find that she promotes nothing but camraderie and trust—across all species.”
“Heheheh...” Rainbow strolled into the hotel room. “Sounds like the Queen gives you guys a lot of leeway.” She shrugged out the balcony window. “I'm guessing that's how a place like Rust exists.”
“She leaves us to our own devices, if that's what you mean,” Theanim said. “But she intervenes when there are signs of contention.”
“And what about inequality and exploitation?” Rainbow leaned her head to the side. “How's the Queen feel about that?”
Theanim smiled. “Do your Princesses march into every Equestrian City, acting as authoritative intermediaries for whenever there's a land dispute or a financial argument over baking goods?”
“Well... uh...” Rainbow glanced down at her hooves. “...no.”
“Well, neither does our Queen make attempts to interrupt in our livelihoods,” Theanim explained. “She only maintains that we enjoy the very existence of said livelihoods.” He gestured. “Decades ago, terrible beasts migrated from the south—ravenous reptiles that make the likes of Ultimo look like a gentle giant. They wrecked ships and devoured merchants. Hundreds if not thousands of innocent Rohbreddeners lost their lives to these cretins and their voracious jaws.”
“Yeesh.” Rainbow winced. “Sounds metal. Erm...” She chuckled breathily, knocking a hoof against a nearby support column. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, it turned out to be far too dire of a situation for our defense ministry to handle. Thankfully, though, our Righteous Queen intervened. Within a two day period, she had single-hoofedly driven the monsters back into the depths. They haven't bothered us since.”
“So... she keeps the order... when it gets super kaizo, huh?”
“Indeed. From what you've told me, your Princesses have done the same with these...” He glanced at her neck pendant. “...Elements of Harmony, yes?”
“I've got one question, though,” Rainbow said. “Ultimo—wasn't that a big enough reason for Verlax... er... Verlaxion to intervene? I mean, he was making life hard for a bunch of merchants and villagers and stuff.”
“Well, in the end, she didn't have to... did she?”
“What makes you say that?”
Theanim returned to his pack. “What else?”
Rainbow blinked at that. She gazed off in thought.
“So long as the Six Tribes remain an alliance—and not enemies—then our Queen is happy to let us live as we see fit. That's why I'm always baffled that the Colonialists would think so ill of her... and it's also why I'm so alarmed when you tell me that she's some... some...” He grimaced, shrugging. “... reptilian death mother.”
“And it gets more and more metal,” Rainbow muttered.
“I beg your pardon?”
Rainbow paced closer. “But can your Queen honestly expect every pony in her kingdom to obey the system that she's established? I mean... I seriously can't imagine that every city on your continent is just as... erm... hardcore as this one.”
“Indeed. Rust has its own color that's scarcely matched in the rest of the island kingdom.”
“So, doesn't the existence of the Syndicate concern her? I mean, sure, it's not tearing your Tribes apart... but living in bondage is a real thing that can happen in a lot of real ways. And it's not always better than living in war.”
“That's where we come in, Miss Dash,” Theanim said. “Harmony is a grand ideal—but hardly a reality. Here in Rohbredden, we don't have... magic elements that can zap a monster and reboot tranquility incarnate. Instead, we have the Order.” He chuckled lightly. “Don't pretend that Sinrar and his companion haven't influenced you in some degree. Surely you've considered it odd—as they do—that such spiritually devout citizens would consider themselves 'scientists.'”
“The... uh... the thought has crossed my mind.”
“The Queen has her role, and we have ours. While what we seek and what we record is all part of manifesting the same harmony, we cannot simply sit in place and leave everything to the Great Unifier.” He gestured out the window. “There's a world out there that needs order... the Order. And aside from maintaining a record of all Creation, we make it our goal to improve the lives of everyone and everything around us. And we do that one companion at a time.”
Rainbow slowly nodded. “...with friends like Echo.”
“With friends like Echo,” he said, nodding back. “Believe me, Miss Dash. Every part of the world has a dark place, Rust included. But I have many a reason to believe that my connections with Echo... my influence with him has swayed the members of the Syndicate into exercising a great deal more mercy than they would otherwise.”
“And in exchange?”
“They help me make the world the better place on my end,” Theanim said. “And if that includes granting me passage into Shoggoth so that an exceptional new friend of mine might spread harmony in her own way... well...” He zipped his pack close, bundling up the bare essentials. “...then it's fine time that my companions pay their dues. And, believe me, Echo owes me quite a bit.”
“Heh...” Rainbow nodded. “Read you loud and clear.”
“So, then...” Theanim pointed to the door. “...shall we begin our search?”
“Totally. I'll get a head start!” FWOOOSH! Rainbow bulleted out the window. “C'mon, girls!”
“Miss Dash?! Miss Dash!” Theanim hollered after her, but it was too late. His nostrils flared, and he fumbled for his keys while stumbling towards the door. “Echo won't be the only one owing me at this rate...”
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I don't see why not.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a3/6a/07/a36a07eea1947cb343ce17c3a4eaf694.jpg
So, Echo is a bat pony? I dig it.
Fifty four-count overhead claps, ):(. For reference:
Had a gunner who loved these damn things. Imagine doing 150, then military presses, then pushups. Ouch. Knock 'em out!
Good chapter.
STOP BEING SO ADORABLE!
Also, I can't help but think when it actually comes time to reunite with the sweet comforts of a hammock, that she might miss having a cybernetic blanket to snuggle.
Also, lizard things? Let's play a game: Lounge, or Verlax's brood? Or were they something else entirely?
Ive seen this happen so many times in the tabletop games. Get to an inn, pay for the rooms up front, then go out and do some legwork, and have the place trashed by vapires, werewolves, orks, dragons, shadow slugs, but the best one has to be getting hired as night guards for a secret meeting, by the guys we were in town to hunt down and take out. That was an, intresting, night. What with the raid by the town guard and the distractions and the sneaking out and the rolling of the broken beer barrel and the burning.
I wonder how many flight ordinances Dash is already breaking, and how many anti ship harpoons it will take for her to notice when she isnt kicking them in mid flight and returning to sender.
ah yes, the hammock. Oh how we've missed you.
Reference to the song, If God was One of Us, which happens to be the theme song to the show Joan of Arcadia, the premise of which is that God appears to Joan as random people.
Verlaxion is claimed to be able to take any form she wishes. Does she use this power to mingle amongst her subjects? Has Dash already met her?
I can't wait to see Theanim react to a call from Luna.
Echo sounds like a fun fellow.
-Memories given light,ease a lonely flight.Ynanhluutr
We are legion. You shall conform. All is one. One is all. Praise be to Mother Rohbreddon.
My first thought was that Echo might be... well, of the canine variety. Too on the nose, perhaps. A bat pony actually makes sense, though. For one, because of the name. For another, you can't do much tunneling on a floating, metallic city, can you?
Also, Rainbow totes needs to buy a hammock. They don't take up too much space in a saddlebag, and it allows for instant adoracute wherever she goes.
Yeah....not really buying that. Pretty sure it is more along the lines of:
. After all, there was a single changeling, not doing anything and minding its own business, and she had it killed.
Echo is a Diamond Dog. Calling it now. People have been unsure about it but I'm solidifying it now.
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
6115873 Naga maybe? I mean like WoW myrmidons and sea witches, and not the "Naga" lizard folk of the lounge.
6115873 It's almost like there need to be stories about the nuzzling fuzziness of
kittiesponies.Damn, Dashie sure missed having a hammock.
memecrunch.com/meme/3WOJL/that-s-pretty-metal/image.png
6115912 No Theanim, you are the
demonsVerlax6115960 Theanim + Scarity phoning home will be a great stand-alone chapter. I hope it comes before RD heads 20k leagues deep
Am I the only one thinking dragons, originating from a certain Divine?
Yeeeaahh, I'm sure there were a lot of eyewitnesses when this happened, and nobody caught a sight of a giant flying reptile.
Makes me wonder if it really happened, or is it just a bedtime story everybody believes.
Rainbow Dash and hammock go together like a horse and carriage.
I'm sure Rarity didn't mind the fact that there's only one bed.
>Shapeshifter
>Large monsters
>Drove back massive monsters within two days
>More praise to the Queen
Until eyewitnesses come up, it's blatantly obvious what the monsters really were.
Fabricate a massive threat every couple decades, come in to 'save the day' and further cement the worshipper's belief that you are their perfect Queen.
6116242
That's a good point. She doesn't even need to do it herself! She just sends the kids.
6116060
;
What makes you say that?
Could be batpone. Might be DD.
Calling it now. Echo is Sarosian.
I feel the urge to draw fanart of Rainbow Dash in a hammock now.
I'm personally not really that fond of sunlight either, and I'm not a batpony. So echo might be a batpony, a d-doggy, or even a photophobic earth pony. Or something else entirely. IC, surprise us!
6116203
I think that's going to be quite a bit away. Didn't we just have a conversation a week or so ago on KMCA?
Yeah, so those 'giant lizards' who Varalax 'drove off' were totally her children, and that fact that nither Dash, nor Twilight pointed that out disappoints me.
With a name like echo I am thinking that seapony might be what dash is looking for in a floating city where better to hide than beneath the very floors?
Wow. Not even kidding, I got to last chapter and this one today, and I was going to post:
'Hammock, hammock, hammock.'
'Somewhere in Rust, there's bound to be a hammock waiting for our intrepid cyan pegasus. Rust is a port city, after all.'
I decided to hold off until I read this chapter, in consideration of the infitessimally tiny possibility that a hammock might appear.
Lol.
Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure they'd have a problem with a group extorting an entire town.
I think she not only misses her hammock, but what came with it too
6115863 Now that I caught up(well, I caught up two days ago, but y'know...), I'm gonna start doing the workout exercises you're giving us. I wanted to do it for a long time, but I'd just kill myself with 30-40 chapters a day.
Sooo...done.
I'm starting to feel bad for poor Theanim. Poor guy will have his believes crushed when he finally sees Verlax
I'm going to make my guesses towards the species of Echo. I'm thinking either Seapony or Changeling.
6116013
They only bat ponies we know of are in Equestria and taking part in the Trinary War. I think if their were Sarosians living on this side of the edge, then they would either have been destroyed, or one of the several tribes brought together by Verlaxian. Unless, she's allowing them to stay so that she can continue to get information from them about the Trinary War.
6116188
Isn't there a story all about how ponies are the size of cats and enjoy cuddling?
6117123
I'm leaning toward Seapony. If I recall, Chrysie essentially said that all of her changelings were either driven into the Grand Choke or destroyed by Verlax (She wasn't able to give Rainbow and info on this continent and what was currently happening).
6115912 6116192
I'm still under the assumption that she's really a good guy (just with all the maneuvering from shadows, even Luna is perplexed and unsure of her true motives). I originally thought that she might have been Ultimo, but it not out of the realm of possibility that she is multiple forms all at once. This could mean that she is also Theanim (and a really good actor, unless each form has its own "identity", like what happened with Chrysalis). However, with Chrysie admitting that Verlax is better illusion/changeling magic that her, I think she could split apart and still maintain her central identity across all parts.
Weather she is watching over/testing Rainbow is assess if she truly is Austraeoh or for other nefarious means, she is somewhere, lurking in the shadows....
She's Echo.
6116480 Well, now it could be a million things. Still calling Diamond Dog though.
You're all wrong
Echo is in fact a breezie
6117653 Please, Verlax no.
6116929 RainbowRoarke still gives me the feels.
Why can't they be happy?
Adorable Hammock loving Dash is adorable.
I'm not completely sure what Echo will turn out to be at this rate, but it should be an I treating meeting none the less.
6115912
[What] if Verlax was one of us?
Just a slack like one of us?
Just a stranger here in Rust,
Trying to find her way East?
6116480 See, it can't be a DD, because that would be infringing on the name rights of a certain other story that shall remain unmentioned.
6115912
Stop making me question the validity of this story thus far! Because now I'm thinking of likely candidates for Verlax. Now I'm scared that Flare might be Verlax . . .
I am immensely interested in Echo now. And Rust. I think we'll be seeing the Syndicate very soon, knowing Rainbow's luck.
6118137
"Just a- Goddamnit, this is what happens when i miss updates: everyone else gets to my jokes before me
Finally a batpony, how great would that be?
Also yeah, Verlax has been called a master of deceit, by very reliable sources and on various occasions. I take nothing concerning her for granted.
What sane being would possibly turn down Platonic cuddles with rainbow dash?
6117653 you're also wrong. Echo is obviously the Moochick.
6121268 well you do have to admit that's it's not a particularly obscure song.
6115863 Hmmm... Those look easy. Jake must be toning it down for the out-of-shape folks.
Rep 8 - Total cakewalk. I wonder what we have in the fridge... Maybe I'll make a pizza tonight.
Rep 19 - Starting to feel a bit of a burn here... That's troubling.
Rep 25 - Ugh... Should have known this would be harder than it looked.
Rep 37 - My shoulders! They're lava!!!
Rep 46 - uncontrollable sobbing
Rep 50 - gasping Whew! Yeah... Like I said... Total walk in the park... /collapses
6120046 Me? Verlaxion?!? Nah, you're just jealous because I'm all cuddled up with Needlepoint, right Thunker Meat? Haha! Whoop!
shifts leathery wings
A maze of metal. Don't get lost, Dash.
Rainbow is adorable again.
I'm guessing Echo is Sarosian